Living the dream

As Marcel Duarte soared through the air over the heads of four children his eyes were focused on a single object — the rim.

Odds are completing the dunk was the only thing on his mind. But in Duarte’s subconscious were the voices he’s heard most of his life.

Ryan Herman / Sports Editor

As Marcel Duarte soared through the air over the heads of four children his eyes were focused on a single object — the rim.

Odds are completing the dunk was the only thing on his mind. But in Duarte’s subconscious were the voices he’s heard most of his life.

“You can’t do it.” “You’re not good enough.” “Basketball isn’t in your future.”

Wrong.

Dreams

Duarte and his fiancé boarded a plane headed for Charlotte just over two weeks ago. Coming home isn’t something the 2004 Kinston High graduate does very often — the past brings up too many negative memories.

But this trip wasn’t about the past. It was about Duarte’s future.

The 6-foot, 160-pound point guard doesn’t have any high school state championship rings, doesn’t know what it’s like to play for one, and doesn’t know what it’s like to wear a Kinston High basketball uniform.

Duarte was cut all four years he walked its halls, and like anyone with confidence he feels he got the raw end of the deal. To Duarte, the teams were already picked before tryouts were held — including those from the middle school ranks.

“I truly feel I was not given an opportunity,” Duarte said. “I was just never one of those kids. It hurt, but it just made me work even harder.”

On June 8 Duarte took off on a make-shift court in downtown Charlotte, barreling towards four grade-school-age kids.

His feet hit the ground, then the ball. Then he saw 10s held above the heads of NBA legends and contest judges Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues and Darryl Dawkins.

“Impressing a legend as of Muggsy Bogues with my talent is more than an honor, because growing up in Kinston I was the kid that people said would never make it, I would never play in college,” Duarte said.

“I made it my number one priority to accomplish my dreams with hard work and faith, no matter what was in front of me. And now I can proudly say to the youth that if you have a dream you have to protect it and never let nobody tell you what you can or can’t do.”

The chance

The dunk, part of an NBA Nations Spring Slam Dunk Showdown competition, has been the latest stop on Duarte’s rise to the top.

Although he didn’t don the green and gold of Kinston High, he never stopped playing basketball. He won a state championship as a member of a local AAU team, he said, and after emailing “hundreds of universities daily,” Division II Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk gave Duarte a chance.

Duarte later transferred to Plymouth State University, a D-III school in New Hampshire. Since leaving school his only goal has been to play the game he loves professionally at some level.

Duarte, who now lives in Las Vegas with his 3-year-old son, Prince, signed an agent, who put him in touch with renowned professional trainers Norris “Bo” Bell and Dorian Lee in Atlanta.

He’s spent the past two years working with them, and after a team tryout he’s now hoping to land a spot with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters when their training camp opens in September.

“I credit them for helping mold me into the talent that I am today,” Duarte said. “I was hoping and planning to go overseas and play (and) things really looked good, but didn’t pan out in the way I wanted so I kept training.”

Potential

Duarte had the attention of Bell from the get-go.

“My first thought was that he had potential,” Bell told The Free Press in a telephone interview. “He had the right attitude when he came in so I said, ‘Hey, you know, I can help this guy.’”

Bell, who spent time playing professionally overseas before becoming a full-time teacher of the game, specializes in working with players’ footwork, he said.

He said he also helped Duarte with his ball handling and shooting.

“I just tried to connect with him so he could maximize his own potential, whatever that is,” Bell said.

Although Bell is based in Atlanta and Duarte lives three time zones away, the two still keep in touch, on almost a daily basis. And if Duarte happens to be in the Atlanta area, he will meet up with Bell for a quick lesson or two.

When they first met, Duarte couldn’t get enough of Bell’s instruction.

“I was like, wow, he’s really trying to be something,” Bell said.

Duarte would seek Bell “a couple times a day,” Bell said, and had his workouts taped so he could see what he was doing wrong.

It didn’t take long for Bell to see he had a real diamond in the rough.

“That’s when I knew that, hey, he might not be an NBA player … but he’s giving himself the best opportunity, the best chance to be something and make a living by doing this,” Bell said.

“I was more impressed by that than anything — his drive and determination to try and make this a career.”

Not alone

Duarte’s story isn’t the only one of its kind.

Although it’s purely fiction, legend has it Michael Jordan was cut while at Wilmington Laney High (in reality, Jordan was told he couldn’t play varsity basketball as a sophomore and had to settle for Laney’s junior varsity squad) yet he is considered one of the greatest to ever play the game.

There are plenty of kids under various circumstances that may not play for their high school team, especially in Kinston.

Duarte hopes to use his story to motivate those with dreams to never give up.

“I truly believe there are hundreds of talented kids that have the ability to play at the next level that didn’t play in high school,” he said.

“Kinston is a basketball city — always has been, always will. There is a lot more talent than just what you see in green and gold.”

He’s using the internet to do so.

Duarte studied media and film in college, and is currently producing his own documentary called “ Road to My Dream.”

Clips of the in-production work can be found on YouTube.

“They thought they stopped my dream,” Duarte said, “but instead just pushed me harder and made my story more relatable for many others around the world that may be enduring the same situation.”

Keep working

The day Duarte’s son was born was also the same day he lost a grandmother, who was very influential in his life.

Duarte remembers the day well — June 10, 2010.

“I knew I had to do whatever it took to make it happen for my son’s life, for myself, and in memory of grandma Mary, for being one of the few people to believe in me and my dream,” he said.

Duarte’s ultimate goal is to play professionally, and he plans on making that happen.

Like the rim in the dunk — Duarte was eliminated in the second round — a pro contract is all he is after.

“I have always been a pretty tunnel-vision guy and just a determined individual when it came to my dreams or anything I wanted,” Duarte said. “I knew I had a talent that many people don’t have and with the opportunity that I could become great and one day provide a good life for myself and family.”

A legacy

There are no signs, plaques, banners or markers around Kinston that praise Marcel Duarte for his accomplishments, but he doesn’t need them.

Titles, rings and MVP awards aren’t what Duarte’s legacy is built upon. His legacy is a never-ending story, played out in weight rooms, gyms, make-shift courts and dunk contests.

Duarte is still doing what he loves to do, and not everyone who plays basketball can say that.

And he did it on his own.

“People always told me I would never play college or pro basketball (but) I proved them wrong,” Duarte said. “My point is to say this: Never let nobody tell you what you can’t be. People told (President) Obama he couldn’t be president, and he is on his second term.

“Never give up on your dream.”

Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.